Archive für 7.3.2010
Meeke takes IRC record with Rally Internacional de Curitiba victory
7.3.2010 von Wolfgang.
Kris Meeke has become the most successful driver in the short history of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge by winning Rally Internacional de Curitiba for a second successive time. Co-driven by Irishman Paul Nagle, the defending IRC champion beat fellow Briton Guy Wilks to victory in Brazil by 46.7 seconds following a faultless performance in his Peugeot 207 Super 2000. It was Meeke’s fifth win from 12 IRC starts.
Behind Skoda UK driver Wilks, Juho Hanninen claimed six fastest stage times on his way to the final podium spot in third. The result means the Finn now tops the drivers’ standings with 14 points to the 11 Wilks has accumulated during the opening two rounds of the 12-event IRC season.
Meeke’s only cause for concern on day two occurred when he came across a flooded river just under three kilometres into stage ten. He said the section was almost one metre deep and 50 metres in length. At one point he feared he might aquaplane off the road. However, he completed the test unscathed and marked his victory by completing a celebratory lap of the Curitiba race circuit, which is hosting the opening two rounds of the World Touring Car Championship tomorrow (Sunday). The races are being televised live on Eurosport.
Wilks also suffered at the hands of the watersplash when his Skoda Fabia’s engine momentarily cut onto three cylinders after taking in too much liquid. To prevent a repeat of the problem on the second pass of the stage in the afternoon, Wilks attacked the watery section at full speed. He avoided any time loss but damaged his car’s bumper.
Jan Kopecky started the second leg in third place but a right-rear puncture five kilometres before the finish of the Saturday’s first 28.32-kilometre Bocaiuva stage dropped him into Hanninen’s clutches. And his Skoda team-mate duly moved in front on the next stage to run.
Bruno Magalhaes scored points on his second IRC event in a row despite reporting making a few mistakes with his pacenotes, which resulted in a loss of confidence. Unable to catch Kopecky for fourth and with his fifth place secured, Magalahes spent the final stages trying different set-ups for the third round of the IRC in Argentina later this month.
Eduardo Scheer completed the top six in his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer. The Brazilian fought out a close battle with Bolivian Eduardo Peredo, whose similar Lancer suffered an engine failure within sight of the finish of the final stage, where he retired.
Daniel Oliveira had been sixth when he picked up a front-left puncture ten kilometres into Saturday’s first stage. Because it was only a slow puncture Oliveira and new co-driver Denis Giraudet elected to soldier to the end of the stage before changing the damaged tyre. They were rewarded with seventh overall in their Stohl Racing-run 207.
IRC 2WD Cup winner Marcos Tokarski, from Brazil, secured the final IRC drivers’ point in eighth overall aboard his 1600cc Peugeot 207.
Heavy rain during rally week forced organisers to cancel the two Rio Pesqueiro stages when the river of the same name running adjacent to it burst its banks. The event-closing Super Prime Pinhais stage was also lost because of the weather.
Kris Meeke has claimed his fifth IRC rally win in Brazil
DRIVER QUOTES
Kris Meeke (United Kingdom), Peugeot 207 S2000, first overall: "It’s a near-perfect result for us and it’s great to have put all the experience of last year to such good use. Paul has been brilliant alongside me and made no mistakes. It’s not been easy this weekend but we’ve learned to control the lead and that’s really pleasing. We’ve been relaxed, driven in the middle of the road, but also showed plenty of commitment when we needed to. I know what it takes to win again."
Guy Wilks (United Kingdom), Skoda Fabia S2000, second overall: "I’d not done a gravel rally this fast since Finland in 2007 so to have adapted to the stages and got second is a great result for me, Phil and Skoda UK. We’ve shown a lot of pace here but I think the difference has come down to the experience Kris has got from doing the rally last year. He drove very well but experience is very important here."
Juho Hanninen (Finland), Skoda Fabia S2000, third overall: "I am quite satisfied because we are now leading the championship when yesterday we thought it would be a really bad result after the puncture. I kept pushing today to keep the rhythm and it is lucky for me Jan got his puncture because it might have been hard to have got ahead of him."
Guy Wilks took second place for Skoda UK
TOP TEN IRC RESULTS AFTER LEG TWO
1 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle Peugeot 207 S2000 1h42m45.4s
2 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh Skoda Fabia S2000 +46.7s
3 Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula Skoda Fabia S2000 +1m20.2s
4 Jan Kopecky/Petr Stary Skoda Fabia S2000 +1m49.3s
5 Bruno Magalhaes/Carlos Magalhaes Peugeot 207 S2000 +4m05.5s
6 Eduardo Scheer/Geferson Pavinatto Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +14m00.4s
7 Daniel Oliveira/Denis Giraudet Peugeot 207 S2000 +14m41.8s
8 Marcos Tokarski/Laercio Reginatto Peugeot 207 +23m21.4s
9 Luis Tedesco/Gabriel Morales Fiat Palio +23m25.8s
10 Juan San Martin/Martin Villete Subaru Impreza WRX +23m42.6s
Leading IRC 2WD Cup finishers: Marcos Tokarski/Laercio Reginatto (Peugeot 207)
The top three drivers celebrate in Curitiba
IRC STANDINGS
Drivers after round two of 12
1 Juho Hanninen (Finland) 14pts
2 Guy Wilks (United Kingdom) 11pts
3 Kris Meeke (United Kingdom) 10pts
= Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) 10pts
5 Jan Kopecky (Czech Republic) 9pts
6 Bruno Magalhaes (Portugal) 6pts
= Nicolas Vouilloz (France) 6pts
8 Stephane Sarrazin (France) 5pts
9 Eduardo Scheer (Brazil) 3pts
10 Daniel Oliveira (Brazil) 2pts etc
Manufacturers after round two of 12
1 Skoda 28pts
2 Peugeot 21pts
3 M-Sport 10pts
4 Ralliart 3pts
2WD Drivers after round two of 12
1 Kris Princen 10pts
= Marcos Tokarski 10pts
3 Luis Tedesco 8pts
= Pierre Campana 8pts
5 Thomas Barral 6pts
= Ulysses Bertholdo 6pts
7 Simone Campedelli 5pts
= Luciano Fleck 5pts
9 Jean-Michel Raoux 4pts
= Pablo Alejandro Pelaez 4pts etc
2WD Manufacturers after round two of 12
1 Peugeot 26pts
2 M-Sport 14pts
3 Abarth 8pts
4 Skoda 5pts
5 Honda 4pts
STAGE WINNERS
Friday 5 March
SS1: Campo Magro 1 (18.85kms): Kris Meeke
SS2: Ouro Fino 1 (9.58kms): Kris Meeke
SS3: Curitiba 1 (12.58kms): Kris Meeke
SS4: Campo Magro 2 (18.85kms): Kris Meeke
SS5: Curitiba 2 (12.58kms): Juho Hanninen
SS6: Campo Magro 3 (18.85kms): Kris Meeke
SS7: Ouro Fino 2 (9.58kms): Kris Meeke
Saturday 6 March
SS8: Bocaiuva (28.05kms): Juho Hanninen
SS9: Rio Pesqueiro 1 (15.06kms): Stage cancelled due to flooding
SS10: Quatro Barras 1 (12.02kms): Juho Hanninen
SS11: Nobre (10.14kms): Juho Hanninen
SS12: Rio Pesqueiro 2 (15.06kms): Stage cancelled due to flooding
SS13: Quatro Barras 2 (12.02kms): Juho Hanninen
SS14: Campina (22.78kms): Juho Hanninen
SS15: Super Prime Pinhais (3.38kms): Stage cancelled due to water damage
Stage winners in 2010
Juho Hanninen: 8
Sebastien Ogier: 7
Kris Meeke: 6
Mikko Hirvonen: 3
Stephane Sarrazin: 2
Nicolas Vouilloz: 1
TV TIMES
Eurosport, Europe’s largest television channel, will show highlights of each day of the rally. Highlights will also be available at www.rally-irc.com
Sunday 7 March
23:00-23:30: Magazine (Eurosport Asia-Pacific)
24:00-24:30: Magazine (Eurosport)
Monday 8 March
03:30-04:00: Magazine repeated (Eurosport Asia-Pacific)
Tuesday 9 March
13:00-13:30: Magazine repeated (Eurosport2)
Wednesday 10 March
18:30-19:00: Magazine repeated (Eurosport2)
All times are CET
MULLER BACK ON POLE ONE YEAR AFTER
7.3.2010 von Wolfgang.
WTCC QUALIFYING REPORT
Former champion Yvan Muller will be on pole for Race 1 in Curitiba tomorrow, for the second year in succession. In a closely fought session the top seven cars ended within 0.2 seconds of each other. Chevrolet dominated the session with Alain Menu (1:23.829) and Rob Huff (1:23.833) being placed third and fourth. Only Jordi Gené in his SEAT León TDI managed to split the team mates by jumping to second with his lap of 1:23.757 in the dying seconds.
Q1- Rob Huff dominated Q1 smashing the circuit qualifying record of 1:24.196 with his early lap of 1:23.831. Despite being the first driver of the weekend to lap in under 1:24 he continued to push, beating his own time in the final minutes to sail through to Q2 with a time of 1:23.630.
His Chevrolet team mates Alain Menu (1:23.730) and Yvan Muller (1:23.923) also jumped up the order in the final minutes to make it a Chevrolet top three. Augusto Farfus (1:24.006) was the top BMW racer with Norbert Michelisz putting in a great lap in his SEAT León TDI, while in danger of dropping out the top ten, to post the fifth quickest time of 1:24.019.
Tiago Monteiro and Tom Coronel were left to fight for the final spot in Q2 and eventually, with a lap of 1:24.558, the Dutchman kicked his team-mate off by only four thousandths of a second.
Stefano D’Aste’s time of 1:25.153 jumped him ahead of Darryl O’Young to lead the Independents’, claiming the 13th position overall.
Q2- As the top ten drivers headed into the final 10-minute shoot out, Chevrolet was quick to assert their dominance with Muller, Menu and Huff topping the timesheet. As the chequered flag approached a nine-car slipstream of cars headed out on track with only Farfus remaining in the pits. Muller improved to secure his pole position while Gené’s final lap of 1:23.757 claimed a front row start for SR-Sport.
A mistake from the consistently quick newcomer Michelisz meant he ran wide through the Curva da Vitoria hindering his own, Menu’s and Priaulx’s final run, although the Swiss managed to salvage third ahead of team mate Huff. Reigning champion Tarquini claimed fifth ahead of Priaulx and Farfus, a disappointing result after the BMW 320si’s had been setting the pace for most of the weekend.
Danish racer Michel Nykjær posted the eighth quickest time and will start Race 1 tomorrow as the best of the rookies, while Coronel and Michelisz rounded out the top ten.
WTCC HSBC Race of Brazil - Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba - 6 / 7 March 2010
www.fiawtcc.com - www.autodromodecuritiba.com.br
ALEX PALERM PARTICIPARÁ EN TRES CAMPEONATOS
7.3.2010 von Wolfgang.
La nueva Federación de Automovilismo de les Illes Balears está trabajando para recuperar las grandes parrillas de pilotos que años atrás se formaban en cada prueba de las islas.
Tanto su presidente, Rafael Ferragut, como su junta directiva, tienen muy claro que el karting ha sufrido, estos últimos años, el olvido y abandono por parte de la anterior Federación.
Para volver disfrutar de un buen Campeonato de Baleares de Karting, han querido contar con los mejores pilotos de las islas desde el principio, no sólo para participar en las pruebas sino incluso a la hora de confeccionar los reglamentos y el calendario de pruebas para este año 2010.
Debido a estos importantes cambios, el joven piloto Alex Palerm, participará en el Campeonato de Baleares de Karting y todo su equipo de trabajo colaborará en la puesta en marcha de este Campeonato para conseguir lanzar de nuevo el Karting en las islas.
De esta forma, Palerm completa su calendario de Competición y participará en tres Campeonatos de Karting con un total de 18 pruebas repartidas entre los meses de marzo y diciembre.
Alex está preparado para afrontar su tercera temporada en el Campeonato de Cataluña de Karting y volver a participar en el Campeonato de España ahora que ha cambiado a la categoría KF3.
Después de la primera prueba realizada el pasado mes de diciembre en Es Vendrell, dentro de la Copa Campeones, el joven piloto mallorquín ya sabe lo que es competir en la categoría KF3, la potencia y dimensiones del kart son muy diferentes a su anterior montura, y además el peso y tamaño de Palerm se adaptan mucho mejor a esta nueva categoría.
Todo el equipo está muy ilusionado con la rápida adaptación al coche, saben que ahora podrá desarrollar todo su potencial y que no se conformará con pasar una temporada de adaptación, luchará por el mejor resultado posible.
Diabolo Karting Team
Alex Palerm piloto Cadete de Karting
Calle Jeroni Pou esquina Reina Constança 07006 Palma de Mallorca
Tel. 971 291 321 M. 616 99 26 87 prensa@alexpalerm.com http://www.alexpalerm.com
Exclusive! The Oreca Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP unveiled during the Le Mans Series Official Test session
7.3.2010 von Wolfgang.
The Oreca Matmut team took the opportunity of unveiling the great novelty of the 2010 season during the Le Mans Series Official Test days: the Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP has been left to them by the French manufacturer for the whole season as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans!
The car will run tomorrow and on Monday, driven by Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and Loïc Duval, alongside the 40 prototypes and GTs which are on the entry list for this special test session. The 2009 “24 Hours of Le Mans” winning car is back on track!
Click here to read more www.lemans-series.com
Meeke holds overnight lead in Curitiba
7.3.2010 von Wolfgang.
Kris Meeke is on course to repeat his Rally Internacional de Curitiba victory of last year after winning six of the seven special stages on the first leg of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier in Brazil today (Friday 5 March).
The defending IRC champion holds a 32.7-second lead over fellow Briton Guy Wilks heading into Saturday’s second leg after making the most of his knowledge of the high-speed gravel stages: Meeke is the only leading IRC regular who has previous experience of the event.
Meeke, 30, also benefited from choosing a hard compound tyre for the afternoon loop of stages when his rivals all opted for softer rubber in the mistaken belief it would rain. However, he received extensive praise from his co-driver Paul Nagle and his team boss Marc van Dalen following a faultless performance behind the wheel of his Peugeot UK-backed 207 Super 2000.
Further evidence of Meeke’s dominance was provided by the fact he was the only leading driver to carry two spare tyres in his car all day, which meant he was saddled with an extra 40 kilograms of weight.
Wilks said his countryman’s superior knowledge of the stages had been the difference between the pair although he admitted dropping approximately five seconds on the third stage of the morning when his car’s spare intercom lead became detached and momentarily blocked his vision. He said his Skoda UK Motorsport-run Fabia S2000 had performed well all day, however.
Jan Kopecky reached the second service halt at Curitiba’s race circuit this evening in third overall in the first of two Skoda Motorsport-run Fabias. The Czech reported the rear of his car was sliding too much on the morning stages, which were slightly damp in places following overnight rain. He also bemoaned his lack of recent running on gravel for not being closer to Meeke and Wilks in the overall standings. Otherwise he said he was satisfied to be in contention for a podium finish tomorrow.
Team-mate Juho Hanninen holds fourth overnight after spending much of the day recovering from the left-rear puncture he picked up two kilometres into the first stage of the day. Because he was only carrying one spare tyre, the Finn had to be extra cautious over the next three stages of the morning loop before returning to service. An extra spare tyre for the afternoon’s three stages helped his confidence although the decision to run soft compound rear tyres in the afternoon caused a bout of oversteer and triggered a handling imbalance.
Bruno Magalhaes was fourth at midday service but lost time on stage five when his Peugeot’s front-right tyre became partially detached from the rim. Although it remained inflated, a change at the end of the stage was required and meant he had to tackle the next two tests with no spare and dropped behind Hanninen as a result of his cautious approach.
Daniel Oliveira achieved his aim of completing the leg without incident as he continues to build his experience of his Stohl Racing Peugeot 207. The young Brazilian had never driven the car on gravel before Thursday’s shortened shakedown. While he conceded he still needs to find more speed he said he had learned plenty during the day alongside new co-driver Denis Giraudet.
Eduardo Scheer, the son of Brazilian rallying legend Oswaldo, won the A6 class in Curitiba last year. Now armed with a four-wheel drive Mitsubishi Lancer, Scheer impressed throughout the day to hold a slender advantage over Bolivian driver Eduardo Peredo in seventh overall.
Peugeot 207 driver Marcos Tokarski is in control of the IRC 2WD Cup with veteran Brazilian Ulysses Bertholdo in second in a similar 1600cc 207.
Kris Meeke leads in Brazil after opening day of action
DRIVER QUOTES
Kris Meeke (United Kingdom), Peugeot 207 S2000, first overall: "Apart from a big hit going over a jump at some crossroads on the third stage everything else has been perfect today. I was a bit too cautious over the jump when the stage was repeated and lost a bit of time. Choosing the hard compound tyre was the right thing to do because it stayed dry and gave me more precision and stability. Now it’s down to me managing my lead tomorrow but I’ve been in this position before so I know what I’ve got to do."
Guy Wilks (United Kingdom), Skoda Fabia S2000, second overall: "Kris got a jump on us this morning and that’s down to his experience of the stages and nothing to do with anything I’ve done wrong or the car. We should have gone for the harder tyre in the afternoon but I don’t think it made a massive difference. Kris has now got to run first on the road tomorrow so we’ll keep the pressure on and see what happens."
Jan Kopecky (Czech Republic), Skoda Fabia S2000, third overall: "It’s been a long time since I’ve done a very fast gravel event like this so I have to be satisfied that I am with a chance of a podium tomorrow. It took time to get used to the stages today because of the speed but the roads are going to be a bit more technical tomorrow and I think it will be easier to adapt to."
Guy Wilks is second overall for Skoda UK Motorsport
TOP TEN OVERALL POSITIONS
1 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle Peugeot 207 S2000 49m17.2s
2 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh Skoda Fabia S2000 +32.7s
3 Jan Kopecky/Petr Stary Skoda Fabia S2000 +1m00.1s
4 Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula Skoda Fabia S2000 +1m42.7s
5 Bruno Magalhaes/Carlos Magalhaes Peugeot 207 S2000 +2m07.9s
6 Daniel Oliveira/Denis Giraudet Peugeot 207 S2000 +5m58.7s
7 Eduardo Scheer/Geferson Pavinatto Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +7m16.1s
8 Eduardo Peredo/Claudio Bustos Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +7m19.5s
9 Marcos Tokarski/Laercio Reginatto Peugeot 207 1600 +11m37.1s
10 Juan San Martin/Martin Villete Subaru Impreza WRX +11m55.1s
Leading IRC 2WD Cup contenders: Marcos Tokarski/Laercio Reginatto (Peugeot 207 1600)
LEG TWO ITINERARY
Start: 07:30hrs; Service 3: Autodromo Curitiba, 07:30hrs; SS8: Bocaiuva (28.05kms), 08:30hs; SS9: Rio Pesqueiro 1 (15.06kms), 09:20hrs; SS10: Quatro Barras 1 (12.02kms), 10:10hrs; SS11: Nobre (10.14kms), 11:00hrs; Service 4: Autodromo Curitiba, 11:50hrs; SS12: Rio Pesqueiro 2 (15.06kms), 13:05hrs; SS13: Quatro Barras 2 (12.02kms), 13:45hrs; SS14: Campina (22.78kms), 14:20hrs; SS15: Super Prime Pinhais (3.38kms), 15:15hrs; Finish: Pinhais, 15:30hrs.
TV TIMES
Eurosport, Europe’s largest television channel, will show highlights of each day of the rally. Highlights will also be available at www.rally-irc.com
Friday 5 March
24:00-24:30: Day one highlights (Eurosport and Eurosport Asia-Pacific)
Saturday 6 March
05:00-05:30: Day one highlights repeated (Eurosport Asia-Pacific)
24:00-24:30: Day two highlights (Eurosport and Eurosport Asia-Pacific)
FARFUS TOPS FIRST TEST IN BRAZIL
7.3.2010 von Wolfgang.
Local man Augusto Farfus posted the fastest lap during today’s test as the 2010 WTCC season officially got underway at the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba. The Brazilian topped the timesheets in his BMW 320si at the halfway point, before the session was briefly halted when Stefano D’Aste lost the back end of his BMW 320si and ended beached in the gravel at turn four.
In the dying moments of the session, Farfus bettered his earlier time clocking a 1:24.243 to remain on top. His BMW Team RBM team mate Andy Priaulx (1:24.732), who had led the session at the start, ended in third.
Alain Menu was the fastest of the Chevrolet men, driving his Cruze to the second quickest time with a lap of 1:24.732. Team mates, Yvan Muller (1:24.805) and Rob Huff (1:24.960) finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini was quickest of the SEAT cars, posting a lap time of 1:25.308 to end the day sixth. His SR-Sport team mate Jordi Gené’s session ended early as he suffered problems with the steering box on his SEAT León TDI.
Hungarian youngster Norbert Michelisz was the best of the newcomers, posting an impressive seventh fastest time (1:25.625) and placing ahead of experienced drivers like Tom Coronel and Tiago Monteiro.
Augusto Farfus set the fastest lap on his home racetrack today
THEY SAID. THEY SAID..
Augusto FARFUS: "I am happy. We took advantage of the red flag and pitted to make some changes to the car, which were very effective. It was a good feeling to drive around so quickly. Now I have set the pace. I’m sure that from tomorrow the others will be closer but I wish to stay ahead if I can."
Alain MENU: "It was a session to get used to the track again. For the time being we are competitive as I am four tenths slower than Farfus, who was very quick. The car has too much understeer in the tight corners, so we have something to work on. If we manage to solve this I think we will be looking good."
Gabriele TARQUINI: "I am quite satisfied. We benefitted from our past experience and went out straightaway with the best set up for this track. The car was good from the very beginning so I am optimistic. I was really surprised by how much grip there was on the track. Last year we were struggling to find grip but now it’s totally different."
www.fiawtcc.com
